


Materials at Hand

by voidfoxstarlight



Series: Inside A Whale [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Cottage Fic, Genderqueer Character, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Jonathan Sims, Other, Queer Language, Relationship Discussions, Trans Male Character, Trans Martin Blackwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 12:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24969547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voidfoxstarlight/pseuds/voidfoxstarlight
Summary: “You build yourself out of the materials at hand and those you seek out and choose, you build your beliefs, your alliances, your home..."— Rebecca Solnit,The Faraway NearbyThe thing about gender is that once you start thinking about it, it’s hard tostopthinking about it. Martin’s been thinking about it for almost two decades, and recently he’s been mulling over one particular thought about it.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Series: Inside A Whale [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772746
Comments: 15
Kudos: 225





	Materials at Hand

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this before the boyfriend episode and then i kind of forgot about it but then i heard "Who's this? Your boyfriend?" "Yes, actually" and i went bonkers!!!

The thing about gender is that once you start thinking about it, it’s hard to _stop_ thinking about it. Martin’s been thinking about it for almost two decades, and recently he’s been mulling over one particular thought about it.

Jon likes to read after lunch. Martin tends to take a nap while he reads, or write in his journal. Today, though, he does neither of those.

“Jon?” Martin says tentatively. “Can I ask you a gender thing?”

Jon doesn’t look up from his book. “Of course.”

“Are you… are you okay with me calling myself gay?”

This time, Jon does look up from his book, and even sets it aside on the coffee table. “I don’t think that’s something I’m allowed to decide.”

“No, but it’s―you’re not a man, but I’m dating you, and I’m attracted to you, and I don’t know if it’s disrespectful of me to say I’m gay if you’re not a man.”

Jon gestures for Martin to come closer, so he does, laying his head in Jon’s lap.

“I’m not a man. But sometimes I’m―hmm. Man-adjacent? If that makes any sense.”

“So it doesn’t bother you?”

“No, it doesn’t bother me.” He brushes Martin’s hair out of his face. “Does it bother you?”

“No. I was just worried it would hurt you.”

Jon kisses his forehead. “It doesn’t.”

“Should I call you my partner instead of my boyfriend?”

A slight frown crosses his face and he tilts his head. “I’m not _particularly_ a fan of ‘partner,’ but I can’t think of a term I would prefer more. What about you? Should I call you my boyfriend or my partner? Or something else?”

“Boyfriend is fine. I know it sounds a little bit childish, but… I kind of like that?” Martin captures one of Jon’s hands with his own and holds it over his heart. “I never really got to do childish things.”

Jon nods. “I can call you my boyfriend.” He kisses Martin on the nose this time. “My _handsome_ boyfriend.”

Martin flushes all the way down to his neck. “Can I call you my _beautiful_ partner, then?”

“Uh―I―oh, hush.”

“We can always look for another word, if you don’t like partner,” Martin says. “You’re hardly the first genderqueer person in a relationship, someone’s bound to have come up with a different term. Like―” 

He gets out his phone and speaks as he types. “Here. ‘Genderqueer relationship words.’”

He hands the phone to Jon, who scrolls a bit and selects an article titled “5 Gender-Neutral Alternatives to 'Boyfriend' and 'Girlfriend'”. He reads out loud, “Partner, lover, significant other—hm. Significant other isn’t bad. Bit long, though.”

“Do you want to stick with that? Or keep looking?”

“Mm. Stick with it for now, unless I find something better.” He gives Martin’s phone back.

Martin scrolls through the rest of the results. “What about ‘datemate’?”

Jon hums and makes a so-so gesture with his hand.

“There’s, um—’diamour’? It’s specifically for a nonbinary partner. ‘It came from ‘diamoric’, which describes the non-straight, non-same-gender but intrinsically queer nature of relationships involving a nonbinary person (or multiple nonbinary people).’” 

Jon is silent. 

“Or, there’s—”

“No, no, I… I actually really like that. Diamour.”

“Yeah?” Martin says encouragingly.

“I don’t expect people will know what it means, though.”

“If you like, we could use diamour in private and a different word in public?”

Nodding slowly, Jon says, “Diamour for ourselves and partner or significant other in public.”

“I like it, too,” says Martin. “It sounds like an endearment. Like ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling’.”

“Sap,” Jon teases affectionately.

“Lovely, lovely diamour,” Martin teases back, pressing a kiss to each fingertip of Jon’s left hand. “Wonderful, beautiful, perfect diamour.”

Jon covers his face with his other hand, not quite managing to hide his half-embarrassed, half-pleased grin.

**Author's Note:**

> The quote is from [here](https://nonbinary-culture.tumblr.com/post/175950439243/can-we-pick-up-diamour-for-a-nonbinary-partner). I could not for the life of me find the original coining post/initial discussions of the term.


End file.
